Bikes

I've had some copper sheet laying around the garage for a few years, and decided to take a crack at a head tube badge. A bike always looks incomplete to me without a little something on the head tube. I drilled and cut out the shape of a cog, and stamped 004 in it (for frame number 4). I was going to stamp 003 and put it on my road bike, but it turns out that the set of punches I bought is missing the "3". After I got it cut out, I filed and sanded off the sharp edges, and sanded the front smooth to remove any marks. I…

I built my first frame in January/February of 2013. It was completed just before I went to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and gave me a real appreciation for the amazing craftsmanship on display at NAHBS. Things I did right: I studied the Paterek Manual. This book provided a great overview of building a frame. I bought bikecad. This greatly simplified designing the frame, and made mitering tubes a breeze. I built this frame off of a granite surface plate, which really works pretty well for the occasional frame. I just realized the picture below if of an aborted mountain bike frame, but the technique is the same. I…

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen's mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change! I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with…

This was my third frame, second lugged road frame, and first silver brazed frame. It really came together nicely. The improvement from frame to frame is enormous when you're just getting started. The biggest thing I did differently from the first road bike was the silver brazing. On frame 001, I had some crappy lugs that were a little deformed, and I used bronze and flux from the local welding supply store. It was a mess. For this third frame, I ordered up some silver wire and flux from Henry James. I really should have known better first time around, but the premium materials made a HUGE difference. I was able…

This is my second complete bike frame, and first mountain bike. I started building this frame last year (2013) and totally fubarred the main triangle so I scrapped it. I finally got around to giving it another crack and overall in the spring of 2014, it turned out reasonably well. This was my first fillet brazed frame and that was a lot of work. As I was initially laying ugly fillets and then filing and sanding them, I thought to myself I never want to do this again. Shortly after I finished though, the desire to master fillet brazing really took hold so I think I will be doing some…

I've had some copper sheet laying around the garage for a few years, and decided to take a crack at a head tube badge. A bike always looks incomplete to me without a little something on the head tube. I drilled and cut out the shape of a cog, and stamped 004 in it (for frame number 4). I was going to stamp 003 and put it on my road bike, but it turns out that the set of punches I bought is missing the "3". After I got it cut out, I filed and sanded off the sharp edges, and sanded the front smooth to remove any marks. I…

I built my first frame in January/February of 2013. It was completed just before I went to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and gave me a real appreciation for the amazing craftsmanship on display at NAHBS. Things I did right: I studied the Paterek Manual. This book provided a great overview of building a frame. I bought bikecad. This greatly simplified designing the frame, and made mitering tubes a breeze. I built this frame off of a granite surface plate, which really works pretty well for the occasional frame. I just realized the picture below if of an aborted mountain bike frame, but the technique is the same. I…

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen's mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change! I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with…

This was my third frame, second lugged road frame, and first silver brazed frame. It really came together nicely. The improvement from frame to frame is enormous when you're just getting started. The biggest thing I did differently from the first road bike was the silver brazing. On frame 001, I had some crappy lugs that were a little deformed, and I used bronze and flux from the local welding supply store. It was a mess. For this third frame, I ordered up some silver wire and flux from Henry James. I really should have known better first time around, but the premium materials made a HUGE difference. I was able…

This is my second complete bike frame, and first mountain bike. I started building this frame last year (2013) and totally fubarred the main triangle so I scrapped it. I finally got around to giving it another crack and overall in the spring of 2014, it turned out reasonably well. This was my first fillet brazed frame and that was a lot of work. As I was initially laying ugly fillets and then filing and sanding them, I thought to myself I never want to do this again. Shortly after I finished though, the desire to master fillet brazing really took hold so I think I will be doing some…

I've had some copper sheet laying around the garage for a few years, and decided to take a crack at a head tube badge. A bike always looks incomplete to me without a little something on the head tube. I drilled and cut out the shape of a cog, and stamped 004 in it (for frame number 4). I was going to stamp 003 and put it on my road bike, but it turns out that the set of punches I bought is missing the "3". After I got it cut out, I filed and sanded off the sharp edges, and sanded the front smooth to remove any marks. I…

I built my first frame in January/February of 2013. It was completed just before I went to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and gave me a real appreciation for the amazing craftsmanship on display at NAHBS. Things I did right: I studied the Paterek Manual. This book provided a great overview of building a frame. I bought bikecad. This greatly simplified designing the frame, and made mitering tubes a breeze. I built this frame off of a granite surface plate, which really works pretty well for the occasional frame. I just realized the picture below if of an aborted mountain bike frame, but the technique is the same. I…

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen's mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change! I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with…

This was my third frame, second lugged road frame, and first silver brazed frame. It really came together nicely. The improvement from frame to frame is enormous when you're just getting started. The biggest thing I did differently from the first road bike was the silver brazing. On frame 001, I had some crappy lugs that were a little deformed, and I used bronze and flux from the local welding supply store. It was a mess. For this third frame, I ordered up some silver wire and flux from Henry James. I really should have known better first time around, but the premium materials made a HUGE difference. I was able…

This is my second complete bike frame, and first mountain bike. I started building this frame last year (2013) and totally fubarred the main triangle so I scrapped it. I finally got around to giving it another crack and overall in the spring of 2014, it turned out reasonably well. This was my first fillet brazed frame and that was a lot of work. As I was initially laying ugly fillets and then filing and sanding them, I thought to myself I never want to do this again. Shortly after I finished though, the desire to master fillet brazing really took hold so I think I will be doing some…

I've had some copper sheet laying around the garage for a few years, and decided to take a crack at a head tube badge. A bike always looks incomplete to me without a little something on the head tube. I drilled and cut out the shape of a cog, and stamped 004 in it (for frame number 4). I was going to stamp 003 and put it on my road bike, but it turns out that the set of punches I bought is missing the "3". After I got it cut out, I filed and sanded off the sharp edges, and sanded the front smooth to remove any marks. I…

I built my first frame in January/February of 2013. It was completed just before I went to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and gave me a real appreciation for the amazing craftsmanship on display at NAHBS. Things I did right: I studied the Paterek Manual. This book provided a great overview of building a frame. I bought bikecad. This greatly simplified designing the frame, and made mitering tubes a breeze. I built this frame off of a granite surface plate, which really works pretty well for the occasional frame. I just realized the picture below if of an aborted mountain bike frame, but the technique is the same. I…

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen's mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change! I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with…

This was my third frame, second lugged road frame, and first silver brazed frame. It really came together nicely. The improvement from frame to frame is enormous when you're just getting started. The biggest thing I did differently from the first road bike was the silver brazing. On frame 001, I had some crappy lugs that were a little deformed, and I used bronze and flux from the local welding supply store. It was a mess. For this third frame, I ordered up some silver wire and flux from Henry James. I really should have known better first time around, but the premium materials made a HUGE difference. I was able…

This is my second complete bike frame, and first mountain bike. I started building this frame last year (2013) and totally fubarred the main triangle so I scrapped it. I finally got around to giving it another crack and overall in the spring of 2014, it turned out reasonably well. This was my first fillet brazed frame and that was a lot of work. As I was initially laying ugly fillets and then filing and sanding them, I thought to myself I never want to do this again. Shortly after I finished though, the desire to master fillet brazing really took hold so I think I will be doing some…

I've had some copper sheet laying around the garage for a few years, and decided to take a crack at a head tube badge. A bike always looks incomplete to me without a little something on the head tube. I drilled and cut out the shape of a cog, and stamped 004 in it (for frame number 4). I was going to stamp 003 and put it on my road bike, but it turns out that the set of punches I bought is missing the "3". After I got it cut out, I filed and sanded off the sharp edges, and sanded the front smooth to remove any marks. I…

I built my first frame in January/February of 2013. It was completed just before I went to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and gave me a real appreciation for the amazing craftsmanship on display at NAHBS. Things I did right: I studied the Paterek Manual. This book provided a great overview of building a frame. I bought bikecad. This greatly simplified designing the frame, and made mitering tubes a breeze. I built this frame off of a granite surface plate, which really works pretty well for the occasional frame. I just realized the picture below if of an aborted mountain bike frame, but the technique is the same. I…

This sweet little ride is my fourth frame from scratch, and my second fillet brazed frame. As would be expected, this frame turned out much better than my first mountain bike frame. This is my wife Karen's mountain bike and replaced her Cannondale Raven 800SL from 2001. Quite a change! I started out brazing with some flux I had from Henry James, but it was old, and dried out, and not working well. I ordered some new flux from Henry James and the brazing went much better. When the frame was nearly completed, I ran out of the brazing rod I had previously ordered from Henry James and finished up with…

This was my third frame, second lugged road frame, and first silver brazed frame. It really came together nicely. The improvement from frame to frame is enormous when you're just getting started. The biggest thing I did differently from the first road bike was the silver brazing. On frame 001, I had some crappy lugs that were a little deformed, and I used bronze and flux from the local welding supply store. It was a mess. For this third frame, I ordered up some silver wire and flux from Henry James. I really should have known better first time around, but the premium materials made a HUGE difference. I was able…

This is my second complete bike frame, and first mountain bike. I started building this frame last year (2013) and totally fubarred the main triangle so I scrapped it. I finally got around to giving it another crack and overall in the spring of 2014, it turned out reasonably well. This was my first fillet brazed frame and that was a lot of work. As I was initially laying ugly fillets and then filing and sanding them, I thought to myself I never want to do this again. Shortly after I finished though, the desire to master fillet brazing really took hold so I think I will be doing some…